


Teamwork

by ClaireKat



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Elemental AU, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, One Shot, day2, lion prompt, voltronweek, voltronweek2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7728646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaireKat/pseuds/ClaireKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another early entry for Voltron Week! Keith tries to coach Red on some things, and Pidge comes around to offer some friendly advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Teamwork

**Author's Note:**

> This prompt is based on an idea edorazzi brought to my attention, so in a way this prompt is dedicated to her. I hope it came out sort of satisfactory, I know I had a lot of fun writing it. Also, I included some of my own Elemental AU headcanons in this, if the fire fists thing doesn't make a lot of sense. And I hope you enjoy it!

“Red, c’mon, all I’m asking you to do is sit!”

Somehow, even with an expressionless face, Red was looking like the last thing on her mind was to do whatever silly task it was her Paladin requested of her. It was as if the giant flying robot lion actually had a mind of her own, which she most certainly did, and her thoughts were currently far away from being in sync with her Paladin’s thoughts and desires, which was also very much the case. Keith tugged on his hair in exasperation and paced in front of the multiple stories tall robotic mount that that saved his neck more times than not in riveting galactic battles, but for some reason couldn’t find herself bothered enough to listen to his request for her to sit instead of stand.

Keith repeated the command that he had been attempting to instill in his lion for a couple hours now and his patience was, unsurprisingly, starting to run a little thin. He felt his palms starting to heat up, a warning sign and a reflex of the unexpected elemental abilities that had begun to manifest themselves not only through the lions of Voltron, but their respective Paladins as well. He gave an exasperated grunt and examined the reddening skin of his hands, clenching them into fists before verbally projecting his frustration towards his lion.

“Ugh, look what you’re making me do! You’ve driven me to this, and all because you won’t obey a simple command –”

“Everything going alright out here, Keith?”

Keith turned his head towards the voice he recognized as belonging to the Green Paladin, Pidge, casting her an irritated glance as she sauntered over to join him. “I think that look may have just answered my question. And the fact that your palms are smoking. Have you really not practiced honing your elemental manifestation at all? If you aren’t careful we’re all going to wake up in a burning Castle and Allura is going to beat you to a pulp. If the rest of us don’t get to you first, fire fists.”

“If all you came out here to do is reprimand me, I’ve got it covered, thanks,” Keith retorted, turning his sour gaze back to his misbehaving lion. “I don’t need you to remind me about stuff like that. Also, my powers aren’t so out of control that they just start shooting off the minute I’m not thinking about them. I have to be provoked to some degree, and you really aren’t much help in that department right now.”

“Okay, so something is definitely wrong. Want to talk about it?”

“Not particularly.”

Keith clenched his fists and took a few deep, calming breaths. He felt the heat in his hands subside and turned his focus back to the bigger task at hand: getting his lion to cooperate with his command. He took a few steps forward and lodged his foot against Red’s paw, leaning his elbow against his knee as he gave the lion a glare that he hoped singed her exterior at least a little.

“Now listen up, you. It seems we’re just going to keep having this discussion, because we keep having this problem, a problem we’ve had ever since I first tried establishing my Paladin bond with you. We’re supposed to be a team, which means that both of us need to be open to communicating with and listening to each other. What that _doesn’t_ mean is that you can just do whatever you what, whenever you want, jumping in to save my life time and time again at the last second just to make it look like you’ve got everything figured out and are here to save the day –”

“You know that when Red does that kind of stuff, it’s kind of making you look good too? I just mean, no one is staring at you, observing you close enough to see when your lion acts without being prompted. So technically she’s doing you a favor when she –”

“Pidge, this is a conversation between Red and I. I really don’t need your commentary right now.”

“It’s actually kind of funny that you have such a hard time getting her to listen to you, anyway,” Pidge continued as though she hadn’t heard him, although of course the contrary was undeniably true. “Green and I never get into arguments like this. Actually, I don’t know if any of the other Paladins have as hard of a time getting their lions to listen to them as you do, Keith.”

“Is this supposed to be a motivational speech of some sort, or are you almost done humiliating me?”

“Well, maybe you could try talking to her in a different way. Each of the lions is different, right? It takes time to understand them, to form a significant bond with them…it seems like one of your biggest problems with Red is the communication. Maybe it really is as simple as that. Red jumps in to help you and carries out her necessary duties when she’s prompted by your emotions, not your voice. She senses your anxiety or your anger or your motivation, and then she acts accordingly. Maybe you could just…try thinking really hard about how much you want her to sit or something?”

Considering how their training session had been going thus far, Keith had to admit that Pidge’s assumption and advice might not be too farfetched. He turned an inquisitive eye from Pidge to Red, letting his leg slip back onto the ground before placing his palm firmly against the edge of her paw. Keith was quick to act, rash at the best of times, and downright reckless at the worst. Allura’s words echoed in his mind as he recalled the description she had given him when she had first informed the Paladins of which lions they were going to be piloting, which ones each of them had been bound to by a connection guided by mysterious and unbreakable fate.  They were the lions each Paladin would be piloting in the intergalactic war against the Galra. He had to remind himself that Red was more like him than he had originally assumed or anticipated; she was stubborn, impulsive, and more rebellious than he would have liked…but he was all of those things, too.

_“Red…”_ the thought passed through his mind’s eye, traveling, he hoped, through his Paladin connection to the majestic metallic beast. _“Sit. Please.”_

No one could have predicted, with any semblance of serious inquisitiveness, what happened next.

One moment, Keith had been filled with the hope and pride of success. Red had started to move in line with the wish he had communicated to her, with an added edge of politeness no less, her great limbs shifting as her torso angled into a sitting pose. Unfortunately, the location on which she had decided to adjust herself was the exact opposite of what her Paladin had had in mind. The great lion, content with the position she had settled into, had Pidge slapping her hands over her mouth as she tried to muffle her reactionary guffaws. Keith, on the complete opposite end, lay barely uncrushed under one of her front paws. She had no intent to crush him, of course; Red had done exactly what her Paladin had asked, sitting as nonchalantly as a giant robot lion can with her Paladin tucked snugly under her front paw.

Keith wanted to shout, to flail and fight back, and he could feel a tingling sensation of warmth starting to surge throughout his body. His swell of elemental rage was momentarily halted by the sound of Pidge’s unrestrained laughter, the smaller Paladin now rolling on the ground, completely overcome in the wake of such an unexpected display. Keith glanced from Pidge to Red, pressing his cheek against the dusty ground as he heaved a defeated sigh. He couldn’t find it in himself to be livid any longer, and just as he was acquiescing to the situation, a single thought from Red floated through his mind.

_“It’s all about teamwork, right?”_


End file.
